Ben Fink lecture

Ben Fink was a very quite man but able to command our attention well, or at least for the majority of the lecture. His early photography of food was really interesting (and made me hungry) and his landscapes had a masterful use of color in them. I felt however Ben suddenly took an awkward turn in the end and lead the audience down a path that they weren't prepared for. He started showing some rather darker work that no one was quite ready for and were having trouble following what point he was trying to make. It's not that I think that we as a school couldn't handle it or relate to it on some level, it's just that it seemed like a sudden shift in topics and it left many feeling detached and uncomfortable.

Art DiFuria lecture

First of all I enjoyed this lecture because it was spaced out evenly with humor which is always good for an art history lecture. I think I misunderstood what the lecture was supposed to be about because I assumed it would be some sort of argument about European art in general but actually he only focused on one man. DiFuria focused on Van Hanskirk who spent most of his time painting Roman ruins. It was interesting to see how he depicted what considered the highest of human achievements in ruins to illustrate that all physical things will end. He was apparently also a illustrator and would translate many of his sketches and paintings into etches and prints. It was interesting to see in one painting, Van Hanskirk included a self portrait sketching out the building featured in the painting. All in all in wasn't what was expected but that turned out to be a good thing to me.